After paying a hefty price of Andre Iguodala, Nikola Vucevic, Maurice Harkless and a first round pick to bring Andrew Bynum to Philadelphia, the 76ers have had little to reap from that investment this season. Ben Bolch of the LA Times wonders if it will be worth the risk offering the one-time All-Star a new deal this summer, something that GM Tony DiLeo called the team's "Plan A" for the upcoming offseason. Here's the rest of what we've heard out of the Atlantic Division tonight:
- Howard Beck of the New York Times clarifies that Amar'e's contract is uninsured in the event of a career ending eye or knee injury (Twitter link).
- Amare Stoudemire's injury could open up some playing time for sparingly-used Chris Copeland, writes Mark Herrmann of Newsday. Meanwhile, ESPN New York's Jared Zwerling talks about the fallout of not having Stoudemire and how the Knicks will have to adjust for the rest of the season.
- A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com highlights the potency of the Celtics bench, who he says has had an impact on nearly every aspect of the game. In another article, Jackie MacMullan of ESPN Boston delves heavily into the complete team player that Paul Pierce has been and how he has carried the Celtics on his back this season.
- Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer profiles Raptors' rookie Jonas Valanciunas, who despite his inexperience has earned a significant role with coach Dwane Casey because of his high activity level and toughness.